


I’m Not Crazy; I’m Just A Little Impaired

by zephyrprince



Series: I'm Not Crazy [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Glee
Genre: Bisexual Character, Bisexual Female Character, Disability, Gen, High School, Ohio, Season/Series 01, Season/Series 02, US Source, canonical queer character, character with a disability, cognitive disability, female character with disability, mobility-related disability, queer character with a disability, queer female character, queer female character with a disability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-06
Updated: 2011-01-06
Packaged: 2017-10-14 11:16:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/148697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephyrprince/pseuds/zephyrprince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Agent Pierce, this is Agent Jones at UNIT headquarters.  Report.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	I’m Not Crazy; I’m Just A Little Impaired

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this story is taken from the lyrics of the song, "Unwell," by Matchbox 20. It takes place during Glee season 1, episode 20, "Theatricality."

“Rah, rah, ah, ah, ah….Roma, roma, ma….Gaga, ooh la la…Want your bad romance.”

The performers struck their final poses and the music ended to uproarious applause from Mr. Schue and the rest of the group.

“Woohoo, alright.”

Artie wheeled himself over to the object of his affection clad entirely in … bubbles. Tina was giggling with Brittany and Santana over their costumes. Giggly wasn’t usually an affect one would associate with Tina, but it was an exceptional day.

“Hey guys, great job with that Gaga,” Artie said, looking up with eyes unsure. He still wasn’t totally comfortable around the Cheerios-turned-glee-clubbers.

Brittany began to turn her chortling head and suddenly registered Artie in the field of her peripheral vision. She stopped and stood stalk still before slamming her body back against the auditorium wall behind her. She clutched at one of the curtains, and without breaking eye contact she inched slowly away. Santana rolled her eyes, but was distracted as she noticed anew the giant black bow on her head and admired its absurdity. Tina looked more concerned.

“Are you okay, Brittany?” Artie called out hesitantly. But by that time Brittany had inched around the performance space towards the door. She bolted through it, leaving the others to their confusion.

\--------

In the hall Brittany ripped off her lobster glasses and engaged the hidden ear-piece in the side of her head, “Central command, do you read me?”  
She began running, her short silver skirt swaying as she did so. She reached with her right hand to press the ear piece again but was suddenly stopped by the burly figure of Ken Tanaka.

She whipped out a pad of paper without making eye contact, “My hall pass.”

“That’s…”

“Psychic paper, I know,” she banked right and dodged into the women’s restroom.

Huddling just inside the door she tried the ear piece again, “Central command, are you there?”

“Agent Pierce, this is Agent Jones at UNIT headquarters. Report.”

She stuck her head out and saw Artie wheeling down the hall. He was alone and before her very eyes, his image flickered and was replaced by a rolling golden pyramid with a plunger for a face.

“He’s deactivated his chameleon circuit.”

“This may be worse than I thought.”

“Agent Jones, I’ve been tracking him for months. Though he poses as a student here at McKinley, I’ve discovered his true identity – Dalek Jast of the Cult of Skaro."

“Good work, Agent Pierce. Tell me everything you know about his cover?”

“His name is Artie Abrams. I infiltrated the glee club to get close to him. He is a talented singer, an unusual skill for a Dalek. That’s what led me to consider the cult.”

“Mm.”

“In his human form, he poses as a person with a mobility-related disability. Presumably the wheel chair projection serves to create the mass and shape needed to hide his Dalek body. I also suspect it encourages sympathy from the humans he interacts with.”

“There you may be wrong, Agent Pierce.” The urgency began to fade from Martha’s voice. “The body mass issue is undoubtedly a factor but I wonder if, too, Dalek Jast feels a sense of intimacy with this impairment.”

Brittany’s eyes began to fill up with tears. Her mouth twitched.

“What do you mean?” She slumped onto the floor in the corner of the bathroom, clutching herself tightly around her middle.

“The Daleks were once another race called the Kaleds that looked very much like you and me. However, due to nuclear fallout from a war with another race on their home planet, the Kaleds bodies changed becoming less mobile and necessitating adaptive equipment, much like Artie’s wheelchair. Although the narrative history told elsewhere in the galaxy sometimes equates this change with the narrow, hateful emotional range of the race, there is no reason to link these two. Perhaps Dalek Jast’s empathy proves that as he identifies with the figure of Artie.”

Brittany calmed herself. She took the transmitter from inside the grooves of her ear. She didn’t hear Martha’s last question.

“Do you identify with these impairments, Pierce?”

**Author's Note:**

> Ever since October I haven't been able to stop thinking about the scene in "Duets" when Brittany tells Artie that she used to think he was a robot. For some reason, in my imagination, this materialized as Artie being a Dalek, and from there I made the obvious connections about the disability themes related to both characters and the focus on their adaptive technologies. What didn't hit me until much later, though, was that this also provided an opportunity to bring Brittany into the conversation and consider her through a critical disability lens.
> 
> Because Brittany is often cast as a comedic character, I knew this would be risky because I didn't and don't want to give the impression that I think cognitive disabilities are a joke. This is why I ultimately decided not to specify an impairment here like schizophrenia. Rather, the point is to think about cognitive and bodily difference in relation to her character, instead of just in relation to Artie's (and the various races and characters whom those discussions usually center on in discussion of Doctor Who).
> 
> Like my previous story, "I'm Not Crazy; My Reality Is Just Different Than Yours," this also comes out of my resistance to reading Brittany as simply stupid. Unlike the comparison with Luna, however, I am less rooted in this being the correct answer for me. It's more about thinking through multiple possibilities.
> 
> I hope this doesn't offend anyone although I know it's a possibility. If so, I hope we can enter into dialog about it.


End file.
